Even though HTC sold thousands of its engineers to Google last year and brought the number of mobile phone launches in the last one year to a screeching halt, the once famous Taiwanese brand is trying out its last chance in the breakneck-paced smartphone market. The company has announced the launch date for its next flagship smartphone: HTC U12 Plus. Yep, it’s not releasing a non-Plus version this year, and jumping straight to the U12 Plus by skipping the release of the U12.

Even before the launch, the design, colour variants, specifications and even pricing of the HTC U12 Plus has been leaked. Let us have a look at what the Taiwanese smartphone brand will be offering consumers with what could be its last flagship smartphone ever.

HTC U12 Plus: Design, Specifications Leaked

HTC U12 Plus - Colour Variants

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The HTC U12 Plus’ renders were first leaked by Evan Blass (who goes by @evleaks on Twitter), but the image wasn’t very clear. However, the legendary leakster has now leaked almost everything we ever wondered about the U12 Plus. Let’s start with its design. The U12 Plus looks almost similar to the HTC U11 Plus, including its Liquid Surface design-inspired back. However, this time, the phone has a dual-camera setup at its rear.

At the front, the phone has a 6-inch screen with minimal bezels on its sides. It’s good to know that HTC didn’t decide to opt for a screen with a notch. The phone appears to have a rear-facing fingerprint reader and a squeezable frame, just like the HTC U11 and the U11 Plus. However, we will see some additional squeeze features, thanks to Edge Sense 2. The U12 Plus is also IP68 certified for dust and water resistance. The phone will be released in three colour variants: Black, Red, Translucent.

HTC U12 Plus: Features, Specifications

HTC U12 Plus Specifications | Image Credits: Evan Blass (@evleaks)

The HTC U12 Plus will feature a 6-inch Super LCD 6 screen with QHD+ resolution (1440×2880 pixels), 18:9 aspect ratio, and 537 ppi pixel density. The display will be capable of playing back HDR10 content, and this will be the first phone from HTC that’s HDR playback capable. The display will be compatible with DCI-P3 and sRGB colour gamuts, and will be covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection against scratches and scuffs. The phone will run Android 8.0 Oreo with HTC Sense UI, and will be upgradeable to Android P in the future. The phone will have always listening mode for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The U12 Plus will also feature dual speakers for HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition audio.

The phone will have a 12MP+16MP dual-camera setup at the rear, featuring UltraSpeed Autofocus 2 (phase-detection autofocus + laser autofocus), OIS, dual-LED flash, HDR Boost 2, and 4K video recording at 60fps. The 12MP UltraPixel 4 sensor has 1.4µm pixels, f/1.75 aperture, and a wide-angle lens. The 16MP sensor has 1.0µm pixels, f/2.6 aperture, and 2x optical zoom telephoto lens. The camera can capture images with background blur, thanks to the Bokeh Mode. It also features AR stickers, Pro Mode with manual controls, and panorama support. There will be two 8MP cameras at the front with 1.12µm pixels and f/2.0 aperture. It features Bokeh Mode, Live Makeup, HDR Boost, Screen Flash, AR stickers. It can also be used for face unlock and for 1080p video recording.

The HTC U12 Plus will be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, which will be paired with 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. There will be a microSD card slot (compatible up to 2TB cards) for storage expansion. The phone has dual-nano SIM card slot with dual-4G LTE, GPS, dual-band gigabit Wi-Fi MU-MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, HTC Connect (AirPlay, Miracast, Google Cast, DLNA), Bluetooth 5.0 (with aptX and aptX-HD), NFC, and USB 3.1 Type-C port. There will be no 3.5mm headphone port on the HTC U12 Plus, so you’ll have to make do with a USB Type-C port. However, the company will be bundling a USonic headphone with active noise cancellation. The phone will come packed with a 3500mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0.

HTC U12 Plus: Launch Date, Leaked Price

HTC U12 Plus Launch Date Teaser

The HTC U12 Plus will be officially unveiled on May 23, after almost every brand is done launching their flagship smartphone offerings for the year 2018. The company had released a teaser image for the launch of the HTC U12 Plus, which contained internal parts from various other smartphones, including the iPhone 6. The teaser had mentioned that the HTC U12 Plus is greater than sum of its parts.

The phone’s pricing was leaked, and it is expected to be between NTD 21,900 (Rs. 49,500 appox.) and NTD 22,900 (Rs. 51,800 approx.) for the 64GB variant. The 128GB variant of the HTC U12 Plus could be launched with a price tag of anywhere between NTD 23,900 (Rs.54,000 approx.) to NTD 24,900 (Rs.56,300 approx.). The phone could be made available for purchase in HTC’s home country Taiwan by June 01, 2018.

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Asif heads the editorial team at MySmartPrice. He has more than six years of experience in reporting consumer technology, and has been quoted in various esteemed publications, including TheVerge, TWiT, and SamMobile. Asif has immense interest in CPUs, GPUs, mobile chipsets, camera sensors, and apps. Asif can be tagged as one of the most patient team members as we often pick his brains when it comes to learn about complex tech topics like camera sensors.